Luke preached at Bella Vista Presbyterian on April 8
Susan Rose, Teila and Katie shared in worship leadership.
The congregation had a friendly competition for Bike-a-thon sponsorship between Luke and Pastor, Dennis Ritchie. While Pastor Dennis won by $24 the true winner is the partnership between Bella Vista and UCM, raising $850 to support the students of UCM. Thank you Bella Vista Presbyterian!
Read below for how you can get involved with Bike-a-thon, happening May 5!
United Campus Ministry Connections – April 2018
Bike-a-thon is May 5th!
Come ride with us!
Students invite you to ride 14 miles on the Razorback Greenway with them on May 5!
Check your calendar now and see if you can join us that morning.
Launch time is 9am. We will have a celebration at the end of the ride.
Email Kristi Button if you would like to participate:
Creative idea:
Hannah Lahodny, UCM alumni, is going to get sponsors and ride “with us”, but remotely from near Ferncliff. You, too, can ride wherever you are on behalf of UCM. Gather your sponsors and give online.
Pastors who are cyclists:
Get your congregation behind you to sponsor your ride!
Invite your congregation to ride with you.
Challenge them to beat their pastor’s time!
Pastor of Bella Vista Presbyterian, Dennis Ritchie, challenged his church to a sponsoring contest between pastor and UCM student, Luke, who preached there on April 8. Dennis won by a narrow margin of $24. The church donated a total of $850 to the ride!!
We will also have a walking and family-fun biking on a 5 mile stretch of the trail.
If you would like to make a donation to the ride on behalf of one of our student riders, we would be thrilled to add your support.
Three Graduating Students are Going to Begin Studies in Seminary
Three UCM students who are graduating in May, Elizabeth, Julianna and Teila, will begin studies in seminary after graduation.
Elizabeth is seeking her Master of Arts in Christian Leadership through the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS). She will be participating through the distance learning program and continue to live in Northwest Arkansas with her husband and children. Elizabeth senses a call to write to adolescents who, like herself at that age, would have never considered religion as an option for life. She believes that the right information at the right moment could open new doors and cause young people to seek more understanding within Biblical texts. She plans to write for the current generation who she says “is struggling to address the God that exits versus the God they have been told exists.” Her call to ministry was inspired by a conversation she overheard in 2015. A young woman was talking to her friend nearby and she questioned God’s existence, the atrocities that have been done in his name, and the inconsistencies of the Bible. Elizabeth did not say anything to the young women then because she knew from experience that it would make her shut down, but Elizabeth knew she had the answers the young woman was seeking. The events of the next six months, that led to Elizabeth being admitted to the U of A to complete her bachelors degree and then to meet Susan Rose at UCM, all showed that God was ahead of the process.
Julianna will be seeking a Master of Arts in Divinity at Columbia Theological Seminary. Julianna was accepted as an inquirer, seeking ordination, at the February Presbytery of Arkansas meeting. Julianna lists three main factors that have been instrumental in her call to ministry. Ferncliff Camp, United Campus Ministry & Susan, and her connection with Becky Purcell in her internship at First Presbyterian, Prairie Grove. Ferncliff was a place a friend took her, unwillingly at first, as an 8 year old. It was the genuine fun and vulnerability she felt in participating in her first Presbyterian Engergizer that opened her eyes to the safe place to explore her faith that she found at camp. At UCM, she has been able to ask all her questions in a supportive environment. She will tell you she came for the free food, but then she never wanted to leave. Through UCM, she has been a Lilly Leadership Initiative intern for two years at First, Prairie Grove. Julianna’s work with Becky Purcell, pastor of First, Prairie Grove, has provided ministerial opportunities and a place to learn from an amazing teacher, for which Julianna is forever thankful. Julianna is very excited to learn in seminary. She is ready to learn new ways and things to interpret and is excited to see how polity works and to learn more about pastoral care. She chose Columbia due to its focus on being involved in the community and is looking forward to finding her place in the community on campus, as well as in Atlanta.
Teila will be attending the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary where she will be seeking a Master of Arts in Mission and Discipleship. She is nervous about moving somewhere new and not knowing anyone. At UCM we know that UDTS is great match for Teila and know the program in which she will be participating will match her calling. Teila has been selected to be a part of the Young Adult Fellowship Program. Twenty of her hours each week will be spent engaged in planning worship, creating programs for new students and prospective students and teaching a freshman level course. In five years, Teila sees herself running her own non-profit organization where she hopes to help women regain their lives, live out their dreams and become bold, independent and daring at heart.
Two UCM Alumni Share a Birthday and a Love for UCM!
(L to R) Katherine, Max and their friend Will (who is a valued sustaining monthly giver to UCM)
Max Hill and Katherine Norwood are both alumni of UCM and were foundational leaders in creating the virbrant programs that are currently happening at UCM. They were also born on the same day in April, in the same hospital!
Both students in seminary, Katherine about to graduate from Louisville Theological Seminary and Max finishing his second year at Princeton Theological Seminary, these two fondly remembered alumni are celebrating their 26th birthdays on April 26.
The two of them jumped at the opportunity to support UCM and the Birthday Fund for the Endowment on this golden birthday where their age matches the date.
We are deeply grateful for their support and appreciate them showing their appreciation and love for UCM in a tangible way.
When you celebrate your birthday with a gift to the Birthday Fund for the Endowment, you are honoring the vibrancy and hope seen in the students. You are supporting students as they are nurtured in their faith and given the opportunity to explore their vocation through the programs and mission of UCM. You are adding your gift to the newly established $58,000 endowment, created to support the future growth of UCM.
Give today in celebration of the gifts and blessings you have received over the course of your life by giving $1 for every year of you!
Luke preached at Bella Vista Presbyterian on April 8
University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS). She will be participating through the distance learning program and continue to live in Northwest Arkansas with her husband and children. Elizabeth senses a call to write to adolescents who, like herself at that age, would have never considered religion as an option for life. She believes that the right information at the right moment could open new doors and cause young people to seek more understanding within Biblical texts. She plans to write for the current generation who she says “is struggling to address the God that exits versus the God they have been told exists.” Her call to ministry was inspired by a conversation she overheard in 2015. A young woman was talking to her friend nearby and she questioned God’s existence, the atrocities that have been done in his name, and the inconsistencies of the Bible. Elizabeth did not say anything to the young women then because she knew from experience that it would make her shut down, but Elizabeth knew she had the answers the young woman was seeking. The events of the next six months, that led to Elizabeth being admitted to the U of A to complete her bachelors degree and then to meet Susan Rose at UCM, all showed that God was ahead of the process.
Julianna will be seeking a Master of Arts in Divinity at Columbia Theological Seminary. Julianna was accepted as an inquirer, seeking ordination, at the February Presbytery of Arkansas meeting. Julianna lists three main factors that have been instrumental in her call to ministry. Ferncliff Camp, United Campus Ministry & Susan, and her connection with Becky Purcell in her internship at First Presbyterian, Prairie Grove. Ferncliff was a place a friend took her, unwillingly at first, as an 8 year old. It was the genuine fun and vulnerability she felt in participating in her first Presbyterian Engergizer that opened her eyes to the safe place to explore her faith that she found at camp. At UCM, she has been able to ask all her questions in a supportive environment. She will tell you she came for the free food, but then she never wanted to leave. Through UCM, she has been a Lilly Leadership Initiative intern for two years at First, Prairie Grove. Julianna’s work with Becky Purcell, pastor of First, Prairie Grove, has provided ministerial opportunities and a place to learn from an amazing teacher, for which Julianna is forever thankful. Julianna is very excited to learn in seminary. She is ready to learn new ways and things to interpret and is excited to see how polity works and to learn more about pastoral care. She chose Columbia due to its focus on being involved in the community and is looking forward to finding her place in the community on campus, as well as in Atlanta..jpg)
nervous about moving somewhere new and not knowing anyone. At UCM we know that UDTS is great match for Teila and know the program in which she will be participating will match her calling. Teila has been selected to be a part of the Young Adult Fellowship Program. Twenty of her hours each week will be spent engaged in planning worship, creating programs for new students and prospective students and teaching a freshman level course. In five years, Teila sees herself running her own non-profit organization where she hopes to help women regain their lives, live out their dreams and become bold, independent and daring at heart..jpg)
United Campus Ministry 